Southern Oregon Pet Owners Urged To Update Distemper Shots

Health officials are warning Southern Oregonians to update their dogs' distemper vaccinations because an outbreak of the virus has been found in the local fox population. Wildlife biologists have fielded more than a dozen calls in the past two weeks regarding gray foxes displaying strange behavior. The virus has already been confirmed in two gray foxes found dead in Ashland and one in Medford. Previous outbreaks of distemper occurred locally in raccoons in the 1990s and 2000s.